Nobody wins when there are too few taxis
Most bad economic policies can be abandoned, but the harmful effects of restrictive licensing systems are usually irreversible. By illustrating the flaws of taxi regulation, John explains why governments and licensing authorities should think twice before being caught in a transitional gains trap.
Miracle on 34th Street
Not everyone likes Miracle on 34th Street. However, as we review the demise of Andersen, and as the lessons of Enron and WorldCom sink in, there are worse ways to end the year than by revisiting the maudlin but incisive economic analysis of one of the most loved Christmas films.
Boeing and a dramatic change of direction
John used to teach students that Europe could never regain supremacy in civil aircraft manufacture. He was mistaken. What went wrong with Boeing’s strategy?
Big media can never be truly creative media
Is it inevitable that media industries will be dominated by conglomerates? This is the industry where scale creates more problem than its advantages
You can’t cut costs without cutting service
Successive cost cutting rounds may just be a way of funding the present at the expense of the future.
Vodafone triumphs, Britain picks up the bill
So farewell, Sir Chris. The imminent departure of Sir Christopher Gent calls for an examination of the rise of Vodafone.
Department of Trade and Industry/Forum for the Future
Lessons from ICI’s transformation; a lecture at the Department of Trade and Industry/Forum for the Future.
It pays churches to have faith in markets
The analogy between Wal-Mart’s competition for customers and Southern Baptists' for adherents, reveals some interesting insights.
Survival of the fittest not the fattest
The increased concentration of the car industry has been a commonly used, yet increasingly untrue example on the effects of globalisation. There is still an important lesson to learn though.
Mario Monti’s parallel universe
The European Commission was severely rebuked by the Court for its refusal to allow Airtours to acquire First Choice. But the verdict of the marketplace, in which Airtours is in desperate straits while First Choice has gone from strength to strength, confirms the wisdom of the Commission's decision: rarely has an anti-trust agency been so comprehensively vindicated by subsequent events.